In your bag No: 1456, John Helmuth
John has a lovely setup for us today. Very simple gear and a bag that would be stealthy if it were not for the logo on it. Nice film case too.

Hey everyone! My name is John Helmuth from New Jersey.
I’ve been a long-time 35mm photographer, but I’m new to the Leica / rangefinder world. Around 1999-2000 I was in the 8th grade and my best friends uncle gave me his Canon AE-1 Program. I used that thing from 8th grade through high school, college, and up until this past summer when I got bit by the rangefinder bug. I was always completely content with the results of my AE-1P, especially with the affordability-to-quality aspect ratio, but after seeing the possibilities with using a rangefinder I was hooked. Sure, it was a bigger investment than the Canon FD system, but I’ve always wanted to be a member of the Leica world.


This past June I was able to track down a 2-lug M5 body from KEH.com and scored a Voigtlander 35mm f2.5 Color Skopar on eBay. I purchased the setup right before a vacation to the colorful Miami, Florida. I loaded the M5 up with some Ektar 100 and shot away. After vacation I had the film developed and I’ve been absolutely astonished with the quality of the images this M5 can produce. Its the most fun camera Ive ever used. I’m still learning to focus on subjects quicker and quicker since most of my photographer is street based, but I’m still happy with the results.
Over the past few months I acquired a JCH 5 and 10 pack film cases, a new-in-box leather Leica combination case, an Olympus XA as my backup rangefinder when my leica runs out of film, and have 2 lenses on loan from a friend of mine. A Summicron 50mm f2 and a Summicron 90mm f2. Surprisingly everything just fits in the Leica case. I have 3 great focal lengths at my disposal at any time. I’ve been a huge fan of color photography, but have been getting into black and white recently.


For color photography I usually go to Ektar 100 / Portra 400, and for black and white Ive been using Tri-X 400 and Kentmere 400. Right now I have my M5 loaded with my first roll of Cinestill 50, so I’m anxious to see the results. Hope you guys like my setup and I also hope to get people interested in the M5 body! I know they’re referred to as the ugly duckling of the M body Leicas, but it really has some amazing features that the other M bodies don’t have.

-John Helmuth / Instagram @jhelmuth87 for my 35mm photography posts

Thansk for sharing your bag with us, John. Two really solid cameras you have there.
Keep them coming folks, we need more submissions, so get your bag on Japancamerahunter.com
Send me a high resolution image of the bag. Optimum size is 1500px across. Please ensure there is a bag in the shot, unless you don’t use one. The more you can write about yourself the better, make it appealing and tell us a story. Snapshots of your gear with a camera phone and no words will not be featured.

Oh and don’t forget your contact details (twitter, flickr, tumbler et al). Send the bag shots here. Please understand that there is a long wait now as there is a backlog of submissions. Not all make the cut, so make sure yours is funny/interesting/quirky. And please make sure the shot is of good quality, as the ones that are not do not go up.

Cheers
Japancamerahunter